Topic: Donor Communications Boot Camp with Tom Ahern, ABC
Be more successful as a fundraiser. Raise more money. Retain more donors. Attract lots more bequests and other planned gifts.
And how do you achieve all those gains? By understanding how donor communications really work.
In this 3-part seminar, customized for the Virginia Association of Fundraising Executives, attendees will advance from novice to pro in four hours of instruction. In these brisk, heavily illustrated, utterly practical sessions, attendees will learn the best-kept trade secrets of top fundraising pros from across the English-speaking world.
You’ll learn why the UK has three times more charitable bequests than the US. You’ll learn why arm-twisting and “educating the donor” are misguided strategies. You’ll learn how to put the latest psychological findings to work; making persuasion a sure thing, rather than guesswork.
8:30 a.m. Registration
8:55 a.m. Part 1, The Basics
Meet “the three-second rule” that applies to donor communications. You’ll discover why your readers are wary and unresponsive. You’ll learn what you can do to improve response rates and cultivation. And you’ll learn what psychologists, neuroscientists, direct mail specialists, graphics researchers, and champion fundraisers know today about hooking a reader and persuading that reader to act.
10:30 a.m. Beverage Break
10:45 a.m. Part 2, Making Your Case
Learn why you have to make a promise and answer the donor’s Three Big Questions. You’ll also learn how to prepare an elevator speech. And you’ll see your organization as outsiders do … and in the process, you’ll vanquish the all-too-common “curse of knowledge,” which business bestseller Made to Stick blames for most failed messages.
12:00 p.m. Lunch Distribution
12:15 p.m. Part 3, Building Loyalty Through Newsletters
Discover why donors want newsletters… but hate the one you’re probably sending. Donor retention among US nonprofits is dreadful. By one expert’s estimate, seven out of 10 first-time donors do not make a second gift to the same charity. Newsletters help fix this problem. See why most newsletters are failures before they leave the building. Learn how easy it is to fix your newsletter so that your donors will love to receive it – and respond strongly to your appeals.
1:30 p.m. Adjourn
Our Speaker:
Tom Ahern, ABC, is President of Ahern Communications, Ink, and is considered one of North America’s leading authorities on donor communications. Each year he delivers dozens of workshops on the techniques of effective fundraising communications. He is the author of three books, Raising More Money with Newsletters (2005); How to Write Fundraising Materials That Make More Money (2007); and Keep Your Donors, (co-authored with Simone Joyaux, 2007). His newest book, How to Write a Winning Case for Support, is due out in 2009. Clients include brand names like the Sierra Club and Save the Children, as well as hospitals, universities, foundations, and local charities. He specializes in bequest marketing; donor communications evaluations; direct mail; newsletter interventions; and case statements that are bold, swift, and intense.Tom is also an award-winning magazine journalist, for articles on health, women’s rights and other social justice issues. He has his MA and BA in English from Brown University, and a Certificate in Advertising Art from the Rhode Island School of Design. His office is in Rhode Island. He writes his books at his second home in France.
Click here for a downloadable registration form with complete details.
